Combat (Revision 17275)

A lot of your problems in Skyrim can be resolved through sheer brute force. Be it with Spellcasting, the old sword-and-shield combo, dual-wielding weapons, or even bare-knuckled brawling, Skyrim offers you the option of dual-wielding anything. This opens up many possible pairings, like spell and spell, spell and sword, sword and shield, etc.

Some weapons like large battle-axes or bows will occupy both hands, but these weapons tend to boast more hitting power, balancing the minor setback in the end.

Just like how Magicka fuels Spellcasting, the Stamina gauge governs how much your character can physically exert himself before he cannot push himself further.

Pro-tip: You can Favorite your most frequently used items or spells and pull up this special list by pressing Up on the D-pad (on consoles). From this favorites list, you can make further distinctions by selecting two of your absolute favorite spells or items (like Potions) and assigning them to your left and right buttons on the D-pad as hotkeys.

There is no singular proper melee method. How you choose to approach combat is entirely up to you, but keep in mind that you want to best employ those traits you are best trained and suited for. For example, if you want to be a damage-dealing superhuman, you should not dabble too much in Restoration magic, except for the basic ability to heal yourself. For more tips on how to best hammer out your character, check out Character Building.

Combat Mechanics

Various items, skills, and perks affect the player's combat abilities in different ways. The following is an outline of how this works.

WEAPON DAMAGE

The player's damage with melee and ranged weapons is determined by the type of weapon as well as the appropriate weapon skill. For example a Steel Sword will do more damage than an Iron Sword, but both weapons will do more damage as the player's One-handed skill improves.

Various perks, potions, and items provide percentage bonuses to damage with a particular weapon category. For example, a Ring of Wielding increases damage with one-handed weapons by 20%, while a Potion of True Shot increases all bow damage by 20% for 60 seconds after it is consumed. Bonuses from different sources do stack.

So far there is no confirmed cap on weapon damage in Skyrim. In theory, attaining the highest possible weapon damage requires maxing out four skills (along with perks): the appropriate weapon skill, Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy.

ARMOR RATING

The player's armor rating is displayed at the bottom of the screen after accessing the Apparel sub-menu under Items.

Armor reduces all physical damage (from weapons, claws, etc) suffered by the player by a percentage. Based on limited testing, it seems that an increase in armor rating of 7-8 points reduces incoming damage by an additional 1 percent. Damage reduction is capped at 80 percent, which is reached at an armor rating of 567.

Note that armor ratings above 567 are still displayed under the apparel submenu but do not further reduce damage received. It is possible that armor ratings above 567 could still be beneficial against foes whose attacks ignore armor (e.g., mace-wielding bandits). With sufficient smithing skill (and appropriate bonuses from potions and items) it is possible to reach this cap with most of the armor available in the game, so at very high levels choice of armor is (almost) aesthetic.

Alternate Combat Methods

Having trouble defeating enemies using a traditional method? Here are some other options, that can be sneaky or downright broken.

Be sneaky

Going into Sneak mode and annihilating everything with guaranteed criticals is a popular option. Bows can deal triple damage from a fair distance, and daggers can do fifteen-times normal damage with the Assassin's Blade perk or even an unholy thirty-times while wearing Shrouded Gloves.

NOTE: You even earn extra Sneaking skill experience for every successful silent kill.

Use traps

If you're in an area full of traps, such as a Dwarven ruin, bandit hideout, or an overly decorated cave, feel free to use them on your enemies. Even "intelligent" humanoids will gleefully run through Dwemer flame-throwers, swinging blades, boulder-fall tripwires, and burning oil patches just to get to you. If you have the Unrelenting ForceShout, you can purposefully launch them into these, or off the nearest precipice.

Alert the guards

The City Guards are there to protect the citizenry, and you are counted amongst this number. If you're near a town and have started a fight that you just can't win, consider cowering behind them. Tough, fast, and most importantly, expendable, they'll happily charge at that Giant you ticked off.

Narrow the Playing field

Retreating to a hallway is the best option when you're overwhelmed. It's harder to get surrounded when they're almost single-file, ranged fighters will hit their friends in the back, and a single Shout will hit every unfortunate wretch. If you're heading into a big fight, just have a retreat plan ready.

Easy dragon fights

If using mage try dual cast destruction with the dual cast perks that allow overcharging and the perks that staggers opponents. It says "will stagger all but the toughest opponents" but i have found that my low 20 lvl mage staggers almost everything but bosses excluding some smaller bosses. With this you can easily once a dragon lands keep it stun locked using a dual overcharged attack of a simple spell like firebolt.

If using a warrior a simple technique and be wait for it to land and use shield bash everytime it is about to attack or breath fire ( frost ) in this manner you can keep it from attacking with some ease. i dont suggest power hitting it as for shield bashing can take a bit of stamina over the course of the fight.

For ranged fighters using bows poisons work very well try to get well aimed shots. Doing so can be easy as dragons like to hover in the air for an attack or land. On that note when a dragon lands you can find rocks and such to stand behind and most if not all the fire or frost dmg will not get to you if you hide well.

In addition shouts like unrelenting force can stun the dragon for a second or so, become etheral can be used to get close or get away if needed and , the whirlwind sprint can be used to escape the dragons breath if needed. If the main quest has been completed and you have obtained the dragonrend shout (forces dragons to land but only lasts for about 20 seconds with a 15 second cooldown) it will speed up dragon fights dramaticaly.